this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2023
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If you can't swim, bring desthly afraid of water is a good survival instinct.
After an incident of near-drowning as a toddler, my parents prioritized swimming lessons in my childhood. I can never remember not being able to swim. However, when I was in the military, there was a survival swimming section where you had to get in a pool with full clothing and a weapon, and swim a length. You were supposed to keep the weapon above water at all time. So you're doing a side-stroke with one arm holding a 7lb weight above water, in long-sleeved shirt and pants (I recall being grateful no boots or socks). Most of us California boys made it; lots of people didn't make it with the rifle the whole way, or tapped out without getting anywhere at all. The point is, near the end, when I was exhausted from fighting the water, and it was starting to get hard to keep my head above water, I felt an unexpected panic rising. I can easily believe that if it had gone on much longer, the panic would have taken over and years of swimming experienced would go out the window, and I'd have ended up thrashing futiliy in the water like the guys who dropped out at the start.
Drowning is a singularly frightening experience.
Crazy! I was drownproofed as an infant, and was a water baby my whole life. I joined the swim team in highschool and university. That swim test was stupidly easy if you knew how to backstroke. Just hold the weapon above the water in both hands, and kick. Your head will dip below the water, but will come right back out, so breathe then and exhale while your head is under the water.
They made me do it side stroke as well. That was much harder, but I could have kept going for at least 200m (down and back 4 times.)
I had no clue that us competitive swimmers have that much more endurance in the water than the average swimmer.
I swam from a young age and did swim team during elementary school, and I was always a strong swimmer but didn't keep up with training after I quit. One year during uni wrestling cross training we were doing laps in the pool and the women's polo team was also there at the same time, so our coach told us to go play with them for a bit. Despite both wrestling and polo demanding high endurance and total body fitness the muscles used are completely different and we had a fun session of almost drowning while the ladies shoved us underwater and hucked balls over our submerged heads.
My half-sister's dad is Greek and she could swim like a fish. I have never had any skill at it, but it wasn't a priority to my dad.